Return of a King
by Didd23
Summary: A burst linker long thought dead, has returned. And he's come for Black Lotus. But, why?
1. Chapter 1

Return of a King

This is my first real story so any suggestions or constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated.

Disclaimer: I don't own Accel World or any of the characters shown in the Anime, game, or manga.

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_"Lotus, you and Red Rider take your forces and hit them on the left flank. Green Grandee, Blue Knight, you take the right flank. Everyone else will be with me in the center. Our attacks must hit them at the same time. Everyone understand?" _

_"Hai!" _Said the seven kings.

_"Today is the last day we will have to fight to keep the Accelerated World free of fear and tyranny. Today we erase the Armor of Catastrophe from existence!"_

Black Lotus looked towards their enemy, thinking that the Armor of Catastrophe would finally be vanquished; but would it end here, or would the Armor of Catastrophe appear elsewhere, like a cancer that refuses to be eradicated? Why does it keep coming ba-

"Master look out!"

Black Lotus' thoughts were interrupted by Taku's warning, which was followed by an earth-shattering explosion that threw Black Lotus through a wall. "_Wake up Kuroyukihime. _She chastised herself. "_This isn't the time to be reminiscing about an old battle in the middle of one!" _But it didn't matter, because the memory of that battle had been on her mind all day. On that day so long ago, so many were lost in order to end the Armor of Catastrophe's reign of terror once and for all, but in the end, it didn't matter, in the end-

_"No!" _thoughtKuroyukihime. _"What's done is done."_

"Master, are you ok?!" Kuroyukihime looked up to see the bulky form of Cyan Pile standing in the hole she made in the wall.

"I'm fine Taku." Said Kuroyukihime. Suddenly something darted behind Taku.

"Taku look out!" there was a clang as the knife, which was aimed at Taku's exposed neck, was cut in half; the top half of its blade clanging on the ground.

"Nice try." Said Kuroyukihime, to the ninja-like burst linker, who gave a terrified whimper before being cut in half.

Outside, the fight on the street looked like it before Kuroyukihime had spaced out and gotten blown through a wall. With the exception of the ninja and possibly one other, the team she and her legion were fighting, was basically at full strength. A short distance away, Taku's girlfriend Chiyuri, (known as Lime Bell in the Accelerated World) was standing in front of two brutish-looking burst linkers.

"Who's this pipsqueak?" asked one of brutes.

"Dunno, but she should be easy enough." Said the other.

Lime Bell visibly bristled at the comments and responded by clubbing the two burst linkers on the head, with the giant bell attached to her left arm, putting the two out of commission. Elsewhere Kuroyukihime saw her friend Sky Raker dispatching several opponents, while her apprentice Ash Roller was running over enemies with his motorcycle, while cussing out and flipping off all the burst linkers he ran over. Then she saw him; in the air like a silver angle, striking at any who got too close; the love of her life, Arita Haruyuki. While lean and fast as Silver Crow in the Accelerated world, he was short and rotund in the real world, but she loved him never the less and always would love him.

After what seemed like an hour of fighting, Kuroyukihime and her legion were the only ones on the battlefield.

" Well it looks like we've won." Said Haru.

"Then why hasn't the match ended yet?" asked Sky Raker.

"There must be an enemy around here somewhere." Said Taku.

"But where?"

"There." Said Kuroyukihime pointing down the street.


	2. Chapter 2

About one hundred meters away was a burst linker that appeared to be clad in military combat apparel from various points in history that Haru recognized almost immediately. Who ever it was, had their head was dressed in a gas mask that was used by American soldiers during the first gulf war, and a German helmet from the second world war. They were wearing a dark grey fabric jacket, with what looked like; grey camouflage Kevlar armor underneath. Haru noticed that their hands had borderline-black tactical gloves, with what appeared to be pyramid shaped metal studs on the knuckles. The pants looked like they were from the Vietnam era and had grey camouflage on them as well, along with army boots of the same era that were the same shade as the gloves; and in those gloves they held an early twenty first century M-16

After what seemed like an eternity of silence the mysterious burst linker spoke

"I'm here for Black Lotus and, only Black Lotus. The rest of you may leave for I have no quarrel with you." Even though it was muffled by the gas mask, the voice was unmistakably male.

"Who the hell are you to tell me to leave?!" shouted Ash Roller revving his motorcycle engine.

"Calm down Ash Roller." Said Sky Raker; but Ash Roller ignored her, revved his engine, and charged towards the burst linker. When it seemed that Ash Roller was going to run over the burst linker, the burst linker took a single step to the right and hit Ash Roller in the face with the butt of his rifle knocking him off his bike and stunning him. The burst linker casually walked over to Ash Roller, and shot him in the head. Haru, Taku, Chiyuri, and Kuroyukihime stared dumbstruck at Ash Roller's body as it dissolved into data, but Sky Raker wasn't fazed, and she attacked with such speed that no normal person could have seen her. Another shot range out, and Sky Raker fell onto the street defeated and began to dissolve into data as well.

The burst linker looked up. "I'll give you three, five seconds to link out, and then I start shooting."

"You're going to pay for what you just did you bastard!" growled Taku.

"Your five seconds are up." Said the burst linker.

Had he not said that they all probably would have been shot dead. Bullets chipped off pieces of brick, stinging the four survivors. "He can't shoot in multiple directions at once." Said Kuroyukihime as they took shelter behind a building. "Everybody split up and attack from different directions. Chiyuri you stay here in case we need you." Haru took to the sky, while Kuroyukihime went to the rooftop of the building they were hiding behind; Taku on the other hand charged straight at the burst linker. "_You idiot!"_ Thought Haru, when he saw what Taku was doing. In a split second decision Haru dived at the burst linker hoping to catch him off guard, but the burst linker saw him and with three shots destroyed his right wing, causing him to crash into a wall and send up a cloud of dust.

"So you're Silver Crow."

Haru looked up, and saw the burst linker standing beside his head. Upon closer inspection of the burst linker; Haru saw that the view ports on his gas mask were the same shade of grey as his gloves and boots, and his exposed fingers looked like they had… wait was that skin?!

"W-who are you?" said Haru.

"No one of your concern." Said the burst linker aiming at Haru's head. As he was bringing his gun to bear, Haru saw a silver cylinder that was about a foot and a half long hanging on the belt of his pants.

_"What is that thing?" _Thought Haru. _"Well, it doesn't mat-."_

Suddenly there was a flash of black and the gun that was pointed at Haru's head, fell to the ground in three pieces.

"Are you alright Haru?" asked Kuroyukihime.

"I'm fine."

"Good." Kuroyukihime suddenly noticed that the burst linker backed about fifteen-feet away from her and Haru.

"There's no point in trying to fight us anymore." Said Kuroyukihime, gesturing to the pieces of his gun.

"And don't even think about running" Said Taku, as he and Chiyuri came up behind the burst linker. "You're surrounded. Now surrender and tell us who you are."

Instead of running or surrendering, the burst linker turned around and delivered a savage blow to Taku's head; almost depleting his health bar, and landing a little ways away from them.

"_This can't go on much longer"_ Thought Arita, noting how his health bar along with Kuroyukihime, Chiyuri's weren't much higher than Taku's.

"Chiyuri, heal us quickly." Said Kuroyukihime, thinking the same thing.

"Right!" Said Chiyuri, pointing her bell at them. "CITRON CA-"

The burst linker disappeared, briefly only to reappear in front of Chiyuri with the silver cylinder in his hands; and out of each end of the cylinder came a silver blade, that was about four-feet long. One of the blades pierced Chiyuri's neck. Haru was frozen in horror and shock, as Chiyuri gave a strangled-gurgle before dissolving in data.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

"CHIYU!" Shouted Taku as he charged at the burst linker.

"Taku wait!" Shouted Haru, but his words fell on deaf ears.

As Taku continued to charge towards the burst linker, he grabbed the end of his pile driver and shouted "CYAN BLADE!" turning his pile driver into a sword. Taku then brought the sword down on the burst linker in an overhead strike. There was resounding, ringing-clang, as the burst linker stopped Taku's sword with the right blade of his double bladed sword. The burst linker gave a mirthless "hmm" before suddenly pulling the right blade towards himself and bringing the left blade down on Taku's neck beheading him.

Haru stood rooted in shock as he watched Taku's avatar dissolve into data.

"It can't be. It can't possibly be." Said Kuroyukihime to the burst linker in a voice full of shock and disbelief. "You died. I saw you die."

The burst linker started walking towards Kuroyukihime

"Black Lotus, you killed my best friend and destroyed my legion; for that, I will kill you." Said the burst linker, who then charged at Kuroyukihime, but halfway to her Haru intercepted him. Turning his hand into a silver blade of energy, Haru thrust his blade at the burst linker, who parried and cut off Arita's arm without breaking stride. There was clang and a flash of sparks as Kuroyukihime and the burst linker engaged each other, all Haru could see of the battle was blurs and sparks, as the two burst linkers moved too fast for Haru to keep track of their movements.

_"How can he move that fast?" _Thought Haru. "_Only Kings are that fast."_

"You killed them." Said the burst linker with rage in his voice. "You used them as stepping stones, ignoring the fact that they were people, and you killed them. YOU KILLED THEM!" The burst linker attacked Kuroyukihime with such ferocity that all she could do, was block the attacks. There was a resounding clang, and Kuroyukihime's black blades shattered like glass. Kuroyukihime stared at the pieces of her blades stunned, but the burst linker wasn't done, in a quick slash he cut off Kuroyukihime's legs, and with a cry of surprise and pain she fell to the ground.

The burst linker stood over her.

"You killed my best friend, and destroyed my legion. All so you could reach level ten." Said the burst linker pointing the tip of his sword at Kuroyukihime's chest.

"_No. No please no!" _Thought Haru as he tried to get to his feet.

"And now." Said the burst linker raising his sword over his head "You will die."

Haru watched as the blade descended towards Kuroyukihime's chest, but just before it hit her, the burst linker dropped his sword. Haru watched as the burst linker stumbled backwards from Kuroyukihime and suddenly dropped to his knees, and he cried and his body contorted as if in pain. Haru looked around for the one who was causing the burst linker's pain. There was no one in sight. Haru looked up and saw that the burst linker's health was still full.

" _He's not being attacked, so what's happening to him?" _Thought Haru. Not only did he see that the burst linker's health was still full, but his name was blurred.

Haru was jarred from his thoughts by a sound of pure agony that made his blood run cold. The burst linker was on the ground thrashing as if he was on fire, with a final cry he burst into data.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4 What happened?**

Haru stared at the spot where the burst linker had dissolved, trying to understand what just happened, but before he could come up with an explanation the world dissolved into data. The match was over; he and Kuroyukihime were being sent back to the real world. Haru opened his eyes and looked over to see his girlfriend, Kuroyukihime trembling, a look of disbelief on her face.

"Kuroyukihime-senpai?" Said Haru, tenderly taking her hand. She looked at him.

"It's impossible. It can't be him. I saw him die." Said Kuroyukihime in a shaky voice.

"Who senpai?" asked Haru. "Who was that burst linker?" Kuroyukihime didn't answer, but instead stared at the floor.

"Haru, what happened?"

Haru turned around and saw that Taku was by Chiyuri holding her. Chiyuri had her hands around her throat and was shaking worse than Kuroyukihime; the look she had in her eyes, was that of shock and fear.

"I don't know Taku." Said Haru. "It's as if-" Suddenly Chiyuri screamed and began to sob, burying her face in her hands.

"It's ok, Chiyu. It's ok." Said Taku pulling her closer. The next twenty minutes were spent in silence until Taku laid Chiyuri, who'd fallen asleep, down and sat down by Haru.

"Haru, what happened? Asked Taku. "Who was that burst linker?"

"I don't know." Replied Haru. "But he wasn't a normal burst linker." Haru proceeded to tell Taku about Kuroyukihime's fight with the burst linker and everything he saw.

"There was skin on his fingers?!" Exclaimed Taku "Are you sure it wasn't something else?"

"I have no doubt it was human skin." Said Haru.

"Nothing about this burst linker makes sense."

"I know. His speed, power, and combat skills suggest he's attained a high level."

"And you said that he mentioned a legion, which suggests he's a king, but that's impossible. There have never been more than seven kings."

"That's where you're wrong." Said Kuroyukihime quietly.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5 Grey Christian**

It begin to get a bit slow, my creativity is starting to tank and i'm going to need some help on some upcoming fight scenes. So if there's anyone who's good at fight scenes, let me know!

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Taku and Haru stared at Kuroyukihime.

"What did you say?" Said Haru.

"At one time there were eight kings, seven were of pure color, and the eighth was grey.

"An eighth king?"

Kuroyukihime nodded "he was known as Grey Christian, king of the _Imperium in Occidente_."

"Imperium… what?"

"It's Latin for West Empire."

"Why haven't we heard of him?" Asked Taku.

"He was one the oldest burst linkers, only a handful besides the seven kings know about, or remember him."

"What happened to him?" Said Taku. "Haru told me that you said he was dead."

"In the Accelerated World, yes." Said Kuroyukihime.

"But he's not. He's somehow come back, defeated Ash Roller, Sky Raker, and me like we were just level ones, and" Taku looked at Chiyuri's sleeping form. "And the way he killed her… she's scared now; when she saw me she thought I was going to hurt her."

**10 minutes earlier**

Taku woke with a start. _Where am I?_ He thought looking at his surroundings. _Oh yeah, I'm at Haru's house._ Taku gingerly felt his neck, remembering how cold the blade felt, when it came down on his neck. Whoever that was, was fast, and powerful. The way he defeated Ash Roller and Sky Raker as if they were simple NPCs, and Chiyu- _Chiyu_! Taku quickly found her on the other side of the couch he was sitting on, her hands were around her throat, and her eyes were dilated, and she was shaking; shaking as if she was cold.

"Chiyu." Said Taku reaching out to put a hand on her shoulder

Chiyuri heard Taku say her name, she looked up expecting to see her boyfriend, but instead saw Cyan Pile, his pile driver coming towards her, then the memory came back, as vivid as when it had actually happened; the cold metal piercing her throat, the pain, the lack of air. _No no no no no no no! DON'T HURT ME! DON'T HURT ME PLEASE!_

"DON'T HURT ME! DON'T HURT ME PLEASE!" cried Chyuri, scrabbling away from Taku.

"Chiyu what's wrong?" Said Taku, surprised at the outburst.

"Please, don't hurt me." Whispered Chiyuri.

"I will never hurt you." Said Taku pulling Chiyuri into him. "I promise."

**Present**

**"**She's been traumatized; the way she was killed…" Kuroyukihime shuddered.

"We have to do something." Said Haru.

"We will… Tomorrow. It's been a long and stressful day, and we must rest."

Haru didn't realize how late it was until he saw that it was one o'clock in the morning.

"We'll talk about this tomorrow." Said Kuroyukihime, and with that she left.

"Haru is it ok if Chiyu and I stay here for the night? I don't think she's in any condition to go anywhere." Said Taku.

"Stay as long as you want." Said Haru.

Haru couldn't get to sleep; the memory of what the burst linker said wouldn't leave his head "_You killed my best friend, and destroyed my legion. All so you could reach level ten_."

"_What did he mean by that? What did she do?" _thought Haru. Those two questions stayed with him until he fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**Hey whoever's reading this, it's been about 2 or 3 weeks since I published the first 3 chapters and so far no reviews, which is bad for me, as I'm running out of ideas. So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, rate and review and give me some ideas. If I use an idea that came from one of you I will give you credit.**

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Haru yawned waiting for class to end. He hadn't been able to get much sleep last night, the unanswered questions about Grey Christian had plagued his mind all night; Taku and kuroyukihime looked like they had trouble falling asleep too. Haru couldn't pay attention to the lesson; his thoughts kept drifting to any topic that came to mind; lunch, the next episode of his favorite anime, what he was going to eat for dinner, kuroyukihime naked… Haru was so engrossed on the last thought that he didn't notice Kuroyukihime walk up to him.

"Haruki-kun."

"_Gomen_! _Gomen_!" Exclaimed Haru, realizing she was there. "I didn't mean to imagine you naked!"

"My my Haru, I didn't know you had such a dirty mind." Said Kuroyukihime. "wanna take a peek?"

"Nonononononononononono!" Said Haru, frantically waving his hands while turning ten different shades of red. Kuroyukihime giggled at her boyfriend's antics. She stared at him affectionately until she remembered why she was there.

"Haru we need to meet up with Taku."

"oh, hai."

**ON THE SCHOOL ROOF**

**"**Where's Chiyuri?" Said Haru looking around.

"At home." Said Taku. "She went to her room as soon as she got home, and didn't come out."

"She's still in shock, give her some space and she'll be fine." Said Kuroyukihime "Right now though, we have to do something about Grey Christian. I spent most of last class looking for him in the Neutral Field but he wasn't there, and I can't even find him on the Net."

"Could he be using an Implant Chip?"

"No. He never hid from an opponent, and he wouldn't hide from me, which means he's not a local."

"Could he have gone to his territory?"

"If that's the case, then we'd have to wait for him, it's too far away to travel to in a timely manner, and it's nothing more than a vast wasteland."

"Is there anything we can do to get him to come out?"

"No."

For the rest of the week Kuroyukihime, Haru, and Taku (Chiyuri was still "sick") went into the Neutral Field in search of Grey Christian, but to no avail.

"Master are you sure he's going to show himself? It's been week." Said Taku while on their way back to an escape point. Kuroyukihime only grunted and sped up.

"Taku." Said Haru. "He'll show himself, just be patient."

"How can I be patient Haru? HOW CAN I BE PATIENT!? If that coward won't show up then, then…"

"Then what? What will you do?"

Taku shoulders slumped in defeat. "I don't know Haru, I don't know."

"Don't worry Taku we'll-"

"Haru something's wrong."

Haru saw that Kuroyukihime had stopped in front of the escape point. When he came up beside her, he saw why.

"My apologies for making you wait so long Lotus. Shall we finish our duel?"

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**Remember R&R!**


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